5922. John Griffiths to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 32, 216–217.
63 St. Giles’s, Oxford.
June 22, 1867.
My dear Sir,
It is very gratifying to me to learn that the proposal which the Hebdomadal Council intended as a special mark of honour is so understood and accepted by yourself.
The University almost every year confers Honorary Degrees, expressly so called and purely “Honorary”, upon persons of some eminence; but the grant of a degree by diploma to one who has never belonged to its body is an occurrence of great rarity. With the exception of a few royal personages, the only instance I can call to mind is that of the Duke of Wellington in 1814: for Johnson, who was made M.A. by diploma in 1755, had previously been a Commoner of Pembroke College. [1]
I am sure that the proposal which is to be made on Tuesday next will be cordially welcomed by the University; but I cannot take to myself the credit which Professor Jowett’s mention of my name in connection with it has led you to ascribe to me. My name ought not to have been mentioned at all. It is a proposal of the Council; and the utterance of it by my mouth was only an accidental result of a long conversation in Council.
I must not however regret the mistake, since it has brought me the honour of your letter, and put into my hands your own expression of thanks.
Believe me to be, my dear Sir,
most sincerely yours
John Griffiths. [2]
Robert Browning Esq.
&c. &c. &c.
Address: Robert Browning Esq. / &c. &c. &c. / 19. Warwick Crescent / Upper Westbourne Terrace / W.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Worcester College.
1. Samuel Johnson attended Pembroke College, Oxford, from October 1728 to December 1729. According to Boswell, Johnson’s rising debts at the university and his father’s “insolvency” forced him to withdraw (see The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D, 1791, I, 34).
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